Engaged Learning

Search this site

CSU Delegation Broadens Horizons in Israel

Posted on May 13, 2014 at 2:45 PM, updated May 13, 2014 at 2:45 PM Print

Executive MBA Students and Leadership Team Enjoy ‘Incredible Learning Experience’

From April 24 through May 2, a group of 24 Executive MBA students from Cleveland State University’s Monte Ahuja College of Business visited Israel for a unique International Study Tour.

They met with Israeli business leaders and entrepreneurs representing a range of industries – including health care, cybersecurity, software and the defense industry –in Tel Aviv, the Golan Heights and Jerusalem, among other locations.

Joining them for this unparalleled study-abroad experience was CSU President Ronald M. Berkman, who met with representatives from various Israeli universities, including Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“My purpose was, given the position of the Jewish community in Cleveland, to try to create a series of relationships with Israeli universities,” President Berkman told Cleveland Jewish News.

President Berkman and the CSU team also visited the Mandel Leadership Institute and met with human rights activist Natan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

The trip “exceeded every expectation,” President Berkman said. “[I]t was also an incredible learning experience.”

The CSU delegation also included Dr. Joseph B. Mazzola, dean of CSU’s College of Business.

The International Study Tour is a hallmark of CSU’s Executive MBA Program, designed to provide students with a rich international perspective on business. In the past, the program has traveled to India, Turkey, Dubai and Scandinavia.

Dr. Elad Granot, assistant dean for MBA programs at CSU, led the Israel tour. He blogged about the experience here: